Breaking Point
by SuperPaperBag
Summary: Demons and humans never were truly able to understand each other properly. After a particularly disconcerting discovery, Rufus, Ley, and Dio decide that they've had enough and leave the Grand Chase-permanently, if no one attempts to bring them back. Written in Zero's POV. Rated M for profanity.
1. Chapter 1

"Zero!"

The wanderer did not bother to turn his head. He already knew who was calling him. He had easily identified the voice, and there were few beings who ever spoke to him (let alone called out to him) to begin with.

Dio quickly caught up to the silver-haired demon. "Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for taking that mission with Ley the other day. I don't know what Knight Master was thinking, trying to put me on a mission alone with that crazy bitch."

"Could you please not use such a stentorian voice? We are in a library," Zero requested, tracing his hand over the spines of books on the shelf in front of him.

"Whatever. I didn't even know this headquarters even had a damn library," the stygian commented with a shrug. "And by the looks of things, not many other people know, either."

The library was completely empty except for Zero, Dio, and Mari. Mari was in the corner with several spell books, muttering to herself about "research."

"So anyway, how did the whole mission go?"

Zero pulled out a book, glanced at the table of contents, and replaced it on the shelf before replying, "It went fine. We rarely spoke to each other and accomplished our goal quickly."

"Oh good." Dio leaned up against the bookshelf and watched the wanderer with a bored expression. "I was just wondering because when she got back and figured out that you went in my place she spread the contents of my room all over the six continents. I think my bed's been spotted at the bottom of Partusay's Sea… On a completely related note, sleeping on the floor's a bitch."

"I see. I assume Knight Master has not been informed of this yet?"

"I didn't bother to tell her—she's already busy as shit now that it's apparently flu season," the stygian remarked.

Half a month ago, the season of winter had arrived in Bermesiah, and with it came sickness and horrid weather. Several human members of the Grand Chase had contracted viruses and were currently confined to their rooms. Among them was Sieghart, whom Dio had "accidentally" pushed into the frigid waters of Kerrie Beach a week ago.

After the wanderer did not reply (as he had nothing to say), Dio added, "It's even worse that just because those idiots can't even fight off a cold we have to do twice the work. I mean it's friggin' freezing out there!"

"Try wearing an actual shirt," Grandark suggested dryly.

The stygian looked down at the vest he wore and gave the blade an irritated look. "Shut up. At least I produce my own body heat and don't have to take it from Zero like some sort of parasite."

"Parasite" was such an interesting word to describe the Grandark. In some ways the blade truly was parasitic. It took Zero's warmth, relied on its wielder for almost everything, and normally offered little to nothing but snide remarks in return. Even so, the wanderer found the sword useful, and it certainly could have a more bothersome personality.

"So what are you looking for?" the stygian inquired, watching as Zero absentmindedly passed his hand over the spines of several research books on elven culture.

"Nothing in particular," the wanderer replied honestly. "I am simply searching for material for pleasure reading."

Dio glanced at the titles on the shelf and grimaced. "You call this 'pleasure reading'?"

"I find it interesting."

The stygian sighed and muttered, "You really need to get laid, Zero."

"I fail to see what that has to do with anything," the wanderer commented, reaching up to snatch a promising-looking book from the top shelf. He scanned through the pages quickly only to realize that someone had placed a false cover on the book. At first he was not quite sure what he was reading, but when it became apparent to him he blushed.

"You're making a face..." Dio commented. "What the hell are you looking at?" The magenta-haired demon quickly snatched the book from Zero and looked through it. "Oh, this must be Sieghart's. I heard that he had a few erotic novels like this stashed in his room and one day Elesis found 'em. After yelling at him for an hour about disgracing the family name, he basically hid them around the headquarters. I remember Amy finding one in her piano last week. That was hilarious." The stygian then closed the book and tucked it under his arm.

"What are you planning on doing with that?" Zero wondered.

"Oh, blackmail. There's nothing better than threatening someone while they're already sick," Dio declared with a leer. "Well, I better go off and rub this in Sieghart's face. See you later!" The stygian then teleported away, presumably to the gladiator's room.

Zero realized he currently found the idea of reading very unappealing. He left the library and walked to Knight Master's room in the hopes that perhaps she had an assignment for him. The wanderer rapped on the door to Knight Master's room twice and was quickly responded to with an annoyed, "Come in!"

The demon entered the room to see Knight Master at her desk, looking quite under the weather and constantly snatching tissues from a box nearby. "What is it, Zero?" she asked curtly, never once taking her eyes from the paperwork in front of her.

"…Are you alright, ma'am?"

"I'm fine," she snapped, scrawling her signature on a paper with one hand and grabbing another tissue with the other. She sneezed loudly and muttered, "Now tell me why you're here. I'm extremely busy, if you couldn't tell. With many of the humans out sick that leaves you demons. Well, and the elves, but Ryan's useless because he keeps going into some kind of hibernation."

"I was simply wondering if you had any assignments for me. If there is any way that I can assist you, please let me know," Zero stated.

Knight Master looked up and stared at him critically as if she believed he was lying. "Well…if you really do want to help, you can go to the storage rooms in the basement." She handed him one of the many papers littering her desk. "Here's a list of things that need to be retrieved and where they need to go. Now be off."

The wanderer left the room and checked the paper in his hands. There were several items on the list; most of them were items such as heavy blankets and firewood.

"Why did you offer to do stupid errands?" Grandark inquired, sounding not pleased in the slightest about the situation.

"I have nothing else to do and I wish to be productive."

"Hmph. Fine."

Zero walked to the door that led to the basement and tugged it open with a bit of effort. It quickly became evident to the wanderer that the lower rooms of the headquarters were rarely visited. The passageway leading to the basement was lined with a few sputtering torches; the passage itself was coated in a thin layer of dust.

"How filthy," Grandark commented in disgust. "You'd better not set me down in here."

The demon ignored his sword and quickly surveyed the area. There was a wide variety of supplies and various other commodities present. Some items seemed as if they had been recently added, while others were covered in a thick layer of grime. Zero looked down at the list in his hand and read the first item: three heavy blankets. He eventually found the blankets piled up in a corner beside what appeared to be old armor and a pile of gems. The wanderer took three of the blankets and, after remembering Dio's current sleeping condition, grabbed a fourth. While demons were quite tolerant to the cold and could not contract the human cold virus, they still could catch their own version of the common cold, and a bedridden Dio was of no use to anyone.

Zero easily carried the blankets back up to the first floor and distributed them to the first two rooms. After quickly placing another blanket in Dio's room beside the lone pillow on the empty floor, he moved to the final room—Sieghart's. Upon entering the gladiator's room he was met with a rather odd sight.

Sieghart was currently bundled up in a heavy sweatshirt and attempting to grab a familiar-looking book that Dio was taunting him with from the top of the dresser. Occasionally the gladiator would lunge for the novel, only to have the demon pull it up just out of Sieghart's reach. The wanderer simply sighed, handed the blanket to the immortal, and told Dio, "You have received your entertainment, now leave him in peace. He is no use to us ill, you know."

"Fine, I guess I have had my fun," the stygian admitted, dropping the book in his hand directly on Sieghart's head. The magenta-haired demon then began to nonchalantly exit the room.

"Where are you going? Get back here and fight me!" Sieghart demanded with a sniffle.

Dio merely laughed and over his shoulder replied, "Sure, but wait until you're not sneezing your little brain out." The stygian then turned towards Zero and inquired, "So how'd you get stuck with doing chores for Knight Master, anyhow?"

"I wished to be productive."

"Might as well help you, then," Dio reasoned. "I mean, when Knight Master figures out what I did in retaliation for Ley getting rid of my stuff she's going to get pissed. If I help you she'll probably get off my back about it."

"I see."

The stygian looked over at Zero and, after noticing the list in his hand, snatched it from the wanderer. "So you got the blankets…next are seals for Arme. What does that midget need magic seals for? She's been making healing potions for the last few weeks."

Zero merely shrugged and headed for the door to the basement. The stygian followed him, looking over the list he had taken and sporadically commenting on the items on the list. The wanderer ignored Dio's complaints for the most part—he was quite competent at ignoring voices after being partnered with Grandark for so long.

After the two entered the storage room, Zero instructed, "Assist me in locating the seals. They are here somewhere."

"Ok, whatever. They're those pieces of paper with all those symbols on 'em, right?"

"Essentially."

Zero and Dio then parted. The stygian took one side of the large storage area and Zero took the other. After searching for several minutes and yielding nothing for his efforts, the wanderer detected the sound of the other demon calling his name. He quickly found his way to the magenta-haired demon, who looked quite proud of himself at the moment.

"Here they are," the stygian announced, pointing to several shelves of parchment.

The wanderer looked over the papers and saw almost every kind of binding spell and sealing charm present in the stacks upon stacks of parchment. "Excellent. Which is the one we require?" he queried.

"I don't know."

"Check the list, fool," Grandark muttered in contempt. After a silence ensued it added, "Or did you lose it?"

Dio crossed his arms over his chest huffily and looked away. "I didn't lose it. I just misplaced it amongst all this other paper is all."

Zero elicited a small, inward sigh and began to rifle through the papers for the list Knight Master had given him. "These seals are all inactive," he told the stygian. "You should have no difficulties searching through them." As he continued his pursuit for the list, the wanderer noticed several sheets of paper wedged into the gap between the wall and the shelf. Zero reached for the papers; in the process his hand came into contact with a hairline fissure in the wall. Normally he would have taken no notice of such a small imperfection in the wall; however this line was simply too perfectly straight for it to have occurred naturally. The wanderer traced the line upwards and quickly reached what appeared to be a corner.

Zero was then torn between his curiosity and his "loyalty" to the Grand Chase. He knew that whatever was hidden behind the wall was something that was not meant for his eyes.

"Hey, what'd you find?" Dio asked, walking up to the wanderer.

"…There appears to be something back here," Zero replied, wary as to what the stygian would do in response.

"Stand back."

The wanderer complied and watched as Dio took hold of the end of the shelf and pulled the entire piece of furniture aside in one fluid movement, sending the parchment flying in all directions. "Well now, what do we have here?" the stygian ruminated to himself. Dio sat back on his haunches and traced his hands over the small cracks in the wall. "Looks like a little door. Do you see a lock?"

"We should not be searching through something so clandestine without permission," Zero muttered.

"C'mon, live a little! There's gotta be a lock here somewhere…"

The wanderer walked towards his discovery and seated himself next to Dio. He ran his hand over the panel and found several small indentations near the left side. "These appear to be runes. We likely need a certain spell to open this."

"It looks like we've hit a dead-end, then," Dio remarked.

"I can open it," Grandark stated, "but you're not going to like what you find back there."

The stygian sighed in irritation. "Great, now I really want to see what's back there."

Zero's curiosity had been whetted as well. "…Please open it, Gran."

"Fine, just know that you brought this on yourselves."

The runes on the left side of the panel quickly lit up one by one. When all were lit with an eerie green glow, a small clicking noise could be heard and the portion of the wall swung out, revealing a small cupboard filled with more sealing documents. These specific parchments' runes, though, were glowing faintly, indicating that they were currently active.

"Wait a second…these are for sealing…demons," Dio realized. He tentatively reached out with his rake hand, touched the corner of a page, and almost instantly pulled back his hand as if stung. "Yup, those are definitely for sealing our kind."

"There are so many…" Zero mumbled.

Seals to bind and/or repel demons and demonic energy were extremely rare and expensive. Creating even one seal required much energy and skill. The main component of such a seal was a demon's core, which was also extremely difficult to acquire.

After the initial surprise dissipated, Dio's anger began to steadily build. "There are enough here to kill all four of us easily. They went through all this trouble…the seals are even active, too, so they can be used at any time!" The stygian quickly stood up. "I've had it with these fucking humans. I know we're not the easiest to deal with, but this is just ridiculous. I even expected them to have some kind of precautions, but this…this is just… You know what? I'm done. I'm done here! This isn't worth it anymore. I'm fucking going home."

"Dio, please, you are not thinking clearly," Zero stated. "You anger has blinded you. Calm down and consider this rationally."

"Shut the fuck up! I know for a fact that some part of you is just as disturbed as I am! We're both thinking that maybe someday they'll get sick of us and slap some of those seals on us when we're not looking. Then we could even be killed and have our cores used to kill more of our own kind!"

Zero remained silent; he had no reply. In truth some part of him had been considering those exact thoughts. While he completely understood why the Grand Chase would keep such precautions; however it was simply too extreme. The thought that those seals were ever-present in the headquarters was greatly disconcerting. It would be so simple for anyone who was a non-demon to dispose of a demon with those seals…

The stygian then disappeared, and the wanderer assumed he had left the headquarters. However, Dio reappeared a few moments later with Rufus and Ley in tow. After the summoner and bounty hunter were informed of the discovery, their reactions were quite similar to Dio's.

The stygian then disappeared one more time; this time he reappeared holding Knight Master firmly by the arm.

"You can guess what happens next, can't you?" Dio asked her with a snarl.

She remained silent and kept her head down. If the gesture was out of shame, Zero did not know.

"I find it amazing how you trust a thief formerly possessed by Kaze'aze over someone like me," Rufus stated before disappearing.

Ley simple shrugged and stated, "To be honest, I expected something like this to happen eventually. You humans are no better than us," before disappearing.

"Good luck getting anything done without us, bitch." Dio chuckled darkly and left. This time he did not return.

Knight Master then raised her head and looked at Zero blankly. "What are you waiting for?" she inquired.

"I am not leaving. I was ordered to join the Grand Chase and remain here; until that order is revoked I will not leave," Zero elucidated.

"Well then…clean up this mess."

"Yes ma'am."

As Zero began to collect the scattered papers, he was vaguely aware that Knight Master was watching him.

"I did it because I had to," she stated out of the blue. "To be honest, I knew this day would come. I had just hoped that we would have more none-demon members by then. The alliance with you demons was only temporary, really.

"Demons and humans…never could truly understand each other."

"At this rate, I doubt they ever will."

* * *

Author's Notes:

-Ok, here's my latest project. As always, all of my stories make a lot more sense if you've read my other stories.

-Considering that Sieghart is a guy and often seen as one of the more perverted characters in Grand Chase, it's not too much of a stretch that he would have such pr0n in his room.

-Grand Chase has a library now. Because...I made it up...? I don't know. Also, I have no idea why I'm writing a fic about winter when it's the beginning of summer where I live. -.- I'm weird...

-Use your imagination concerning what Dio did in return for Ley getting rid of all his stuff.

-Lol, the whole seal thing was totally made up. As usual. -.- le sigh.

-Well, chapter two's in progress...ish. Thanks to my readers for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

Two weeks passed since the three demons had left. In that time, most of the humans that had contracted viruses had recovered; even so Zero had not been given a respite in days. After completing a mission, the wanderer would return only to be given another—occasionally even two more—mission almost immediately.

Zero did not particularly mind the extra workload, although he was beginning to become a bit saddened that he was assigned to the missions alone. After becoming used to being around a few others during his missions, the wanderer found the silence that now accompanied him on missions to be a bit unbearable. He was seriously beginning to miss the little social interaction he had become accustomed to. Zero even began to feel as though Dio's awkward and often-disconcerting words were a great loss.

There was nothing he could do about it, though. He had been taught by his master to never complain, and currently he was too occupied completing missions to do anything on his own.

One day, though, he was called into Knight Master's study. She seemed to have recovered from her cold, but now there were dark circles under her eyes and she did not appear to have slept properly in a while.

"We need them back," Knight Master stated bluntly. "I was fully prepared for them to leave at some point, but as I told you before I was hoping by then that we would have more members of the Chase."

"Only three left," Zero remarked. "I have difficulty believing that it is that vast of a loss."

"Well, there are certain things that humans like me can't do. We can't go without food and water for very long, we can't go for long without sleep, and our stamina isn't like a demon's. By putting demons together into a party and sending them off on a mission, I could have it done in half the time it would take a group of non-demons. That's not the point, though. The point is that you'd better get them back as quickly as you can."

"What are you offering in return? They will not simply agree to return because I asked them to."

Knight Master sighed. "What do you suggest?"

"…Dispose of half of the demon seals."

"What?" she cried in outrage, slamming her fist down hard on the desk. "Purchasing those set us back economically at least six months! I refuse!"

"As you wish," Zero responded coolly. "It was merely a suggestion."

"Just return to your mission!"

The wanderer nodded and quickly left the room.

One week later the situation was even more dire. Almost all of the members of the Grand Chase possessed dark circles under their eyes and seemed to be constantly irritated due to lack of proper rest. Knight Master was constantly falling asleep at her desk and missions were taking quite a bit longer to complete than usual. Zero was eventually called back to the study, where Knight Master was peacefully dozing on her desk. The wanderer gently roused her.

"Oh…there you are, Zero. Sorry about falling asleep," she mumbled lethargically. "Anyway, as you can tell things are going from bad to worse around here. It will only be a matter of time before this entire organization falls into ruin. I thought we could manage without demons, considering we did so easily in the past before Dio joined. However, I didn't realize that back then things were different. There was less at stake, the monsters weren't as strong, and they didn't respawn quite as fast... The bottom line is that I'm busy enough as it is, and I don't have any time to recruit anyone else. You've got to get those three back. I'm willing to get rid of half of those seals…as long as I get to pick which ones get destroyed."

"Words will mean nothing to them," the wanderer stated, locating a blank piece of parchment on the Knight Master's desk and pulling it free from the other forms surrounding it. "May I borrow your pen?" he inquired.

"Um...alright," she mumbled, handing over the pen firmly clutched in her hand.

Zero began to draw the symbols he remembered being taught when he was younger. He could see Knight Master watching him in bemusement out of the corner of his eye. "Have you ever heard of demonic contracts?" the wanderer inquired casually.

"…A little."

"A very long time ago, when demons were a more primitive species, demons often made contracts with mortals. In such a contract, a demon would agree to fulfill a human's desire or wish in return for the human's soul. It was a very strange method for acquiring sustenance, and has become obsolete as of many centuries ago—even so, creating 'contracts' is still practiced, although now they are used to finalize agreements rather that consume souls. They are a very serious matter, and there is no way to escape one after you have signed," the silver-haired demon explicated. After a few more seconds the wanderer finished filling the page with a specific set of symbols in a very particular pattern. At the very bottom of the page was a blank line.

"I'm hesitant to sign a document I can't even read," Knight Master stated dryly.

"I have no reason to lie to you," the wanderer stated. "This document merely states that you will dispose of your choice of half of the demonic seals if the others return. I will leave this here if you choose to sign it." He turned and was beginning to exit when he detected the faint sound of a pen scratching away over paper. Believing that it was simply Knight Master returning to her seemingly-endless amount of forms, Zero ignored it.

Seconds later, though, Knight Master stated, "There. It is done."

The wanderer turned to see her holding the contract out to him. He was quite surprised that she had signed it so quickly—he had been expecting her to at least wait a day before acquiescing.

"I took a big risk when I bought those seals to begin with," she explained. "And to be honest, it's about time I gave you demons at least a chance. Don't disappoint me, Zero. I'm putting a lot of trust in you"

Trust was a very important word to Zero. His own master did not even trust him. "…Yes ma'am. I will return with Rufus, Ley, and Dio as quickly as possible." The demon took the contract from her, nodded once in her direction, and promptly left.

After exiting the room, Grandark commented, "Considering how quickly she gave in, you should have actually put something duplicitous in there, Zero."

"I am a man of my word," he stated, folding the contract a few times and slipping it into his pocket.

"To be honest you're hardly much of a man."

"Perhaps."

"What's our plan?"

Zero carefully walked around the comatose gladiator lying on the floor in front of him. "We should pursue retrieving Dio first. However, I believe I should visit Master Oz first. He is much more well-informed than I concerning the Burning Canyon territory. "

"Do we have to? You know I hate being within fifty feet of him."

"I am well aware. It will be a short visit, Gran."

"It better be."

Zero walked through the snow a safe distance from the headquarters and removed Grandark from his back. He quickly noticed that no mana was running through the blade. "Gran, would you be so kind as to assist me in opening a portal to our dimension?"

"I've decided I don't want to," the sword stated matter-of-factly. "I find these mortals' pain to be quite satisfying, and not having that idiot of a stygian around has been quite enjoyable."

"Gran…please cease being difficult," Zero insisted.

"Nope. I'm not going to do it."

The wanderer sighed in frustration. "Have you perhaps considered that you loathe Dio so vehemently because the both of you possess very similar personalities?"

"…You take that back right now," the sword ordered, malice clear in its voice.

"You are now effectively wasting my time. Please assist me already so that we may move on."

"Fine!" the blade exclaimed curtly. Its eye narrowed. "But don't expect me to be very polite when we see that knave again."

"I would expect nothing less from you."

Grandark suddenly filled with energy. Zero sliced through the air in front of him; the sword cut through the thin barrier between dimensions and left a portal. The wanderer quickly stepped through the makeshift portal and watched as it promptly closed behind him. He replaced Grandark on his back and took note of his surroundings.

Almost everything appeared to have not changed. There were no real seasons in the other dimension; the temperature was merely a bit colder than usual. Zero absentmindedly remembered how fascinated he had been watching the seasons come and go in Aernas. Seeing snow and rain for the first time had certainly been an interesting experience.

Fortunately he had appeared relatively close to his target destination. As Zero walked the remainder of the distance between his location and his Master's home, he thought back to the event that had caused the three demons to leave in the first place. He remembered that Grandark had offered to open the panel in the wall that concealed the demonic seals. If the sword had not offered in the first place…it was likely that Zero and Dio would have simply given up.

"…Gran?"

"What?"

"Did you open that magical lock…simply so that we would discover the seals…and Dio would leave?"

"That certainly took you a while to figure out. Maybe you are as dim as I originally thought."

Zero sighed. He had thought that perhaps the sword had finally decided to cease with attempting to remove Dio from the wanderer's life. "Your petty hatred has caused such suffering for everyone else. None of this would have happened if not for you," he told the sword.

"I had nothing to do with the seals being there in the first place," Grandark pointed out. "I just made sure you found them. It would have happened eventually."

The wanderer remained silent. After a few minutes of silence the blade abruptly stated, "For the record, the only reason I even agreed to let you come here was because I know you won't be able to get Dio to come back with you."

"We shall see."

Oz was waiting for the wanderer outside of the house when Zero emerged from the throng of trees. He gave his master a quick bow and silently waited to be acknowledged.

"You certainly have been making these sudden visits more frequently as of late," Oz commented.

Zero quickly informed the wizard of the events that had occurred in the past few weeks. During the entire explication, Oz remained perfectly silent and void of emotion, not revealing in the slightest his true thoughts and opinions.

When the wanderer finally finished and became silent, Oz remarked, "I had been wondering why there was such a flurry of activity in the Burning Canyon territory recently."

"Master, how should I go about procuring an audience with Dio?" the wanderer inquired.

"As I said a moment ago, the Burning Canyon territory is quite frenetic at the moment. They are likely far too occupied with their own affairs to bother themselves with you for too long. I suggest simply walking through the front door," the wizard stated. "If you attempted to sneak it, it is likely that you would be caught and sentenced to severe punishment."

"I see. Thank you."

"I wish you luck."

The wanderer then turned and left Oz's residence.

"I think I would have gone insane if I had to hear his grating old voice for another second," Grandark complained.

Zero ignored the blade and continued to the southern region of the demons' home dimension. During his travels, he had passed by the Burning Canyon territory a few times. He recalled seeing the large, ominous castle from a distance and wondering what sort of events occurred there. Eventually he reached the long cobblestone path that led to the front entrance of the castle. Flanking both sides of the path were broken fragments of pillars; shattered remnants of some sort of former structure.

As the wanderer began to tread on the path, he detected the sound of what sounded like sniffling. Curious, Zero followed the sound of the noise off of the path and into a cluster of broken stone blocks. Seated on one of the large stone blocks was a very familiar demon butler hunched over and wiping his eyes with a hand.

"Sebastian?" the wanderer inquired softly, as not to surprise he smaller demon.

The butler's head flew up and he froze in place. "…Zero…what are you doing here?" he exclaimed in surprise.

"I am here in an attempt to return your master to the Grand Chase," he explained. "Are you alright?"

"I'm f-fine now...Young Master's just been really upset ever since he left you guys…he's been really strict lately. He got so upset when I accidentally shrunk all of his vests in the wash…"

"I see…"

Sebastian dried his eyes one last time and slipped off of the stone slab. "Well, it's about time I got back. You can come with me if you want…it will be much easier for you to get past the guards that way."

"Thank you."

"It's alright. Young Master's nicer when you're around. I think he's happy that there's someone in the world that can actually tolerate him."

Both demons remained silent for the rest of the walk to the front door. Two nondescript demons stood in front of the entrance, having apparently taken on the role of guards. Sebastian attempted to walk right past them, but was quickly stopped.

"Who's that with you?" one inquired apprehensively.

"Looks suspicious," the other commented.

Sebastian huffed in annoyance. "He's an associate of Young Master. He's with me, too. Just let us through."

The two guards quickly looked at each other. "Well…we sure as hell wouldn't want him mad at us."

"That would end really badly."

"He's a devil at the core …"

"I agree."

The pair looked back at Sebastian and Zero before stepping aside and gesturing towards the door. "Ok, you can go in."

As Zero entered the castle behind the butler, he could hear the two guards whispering behind him.

"That guy…he really creeps me out."

"I know what you mean! I swear that sword just glared at me!"

"You're seeing things!"

The wanderer refocused on what was in front of him. He was met with the sight of a large foyer, off of which many pathways branched.

"Stay close; it can be pretty confusing to navigate this place the first couple of times," Sebastian warned. "I'll lead you to the throne room, but from there you're on your own."

Zero kept close to the butler as the two walked down several devious hallways and corridors. Along the way he noticed the paintings along the walls. Some canvases depicted demons that bore a fairly close resemblance to Dio, while others portrayed landscapes and still life. Demons rushed around the wanderer; often they would stare at Zero as he walked by.

Eventually Sebastian stopped in front of a large, ornate door. "This is it. Good luck. Something tells me you're going to need it."

* * *

Author's Notes:

-Does anyone still read these? xD

-Nameless cliche guards are cliche. Yeah, I know, but at least I didn't use an "arrow-to-the-knee" joke.

-Demonic contracts are in this...for some reason I guess. I dunno.

-Actually, this chapter was supposed to be longer but I cut it off early because my friend wanted to play Grand Chase with me and I needed to get this chapter done. Oh well. Chapter 3 should be up soon, anyway.

-Do you think I should stop putting in these author's notes? I doubt anyone actually reads them, anyway. -.-

-Well, I'm in a bad mood so I don't really have anything else to put here. If I think of something (or if someone asks a good question I should answer in these notes) I'll update these author's notes.

-Thanks for reading. I really appreciate it. ^w^


	3. Chapter 3

Zero took a breath to collect himself and slowly opened the door a crack. He peered into the room to see Dio standing over two lesser demons and reprimanding them harshly.

"I told you to put more guards on the eastern border, not the western border, dumbass! Don't you know your fucking directions?"

"But-"

"NO EXCUSES!" Dio barked, the malevolence in his voice causing the other demon to cringe. The stygian quickly fastened his rake hand around the lesser demon's neck and held him about two inches above the ground. "I can't stand incompetent assholes like you," the stygian muttered, watching as the demon in his hand began to choke and struggle to get free.

Zero quickly threw open the door as raucously as possible, effectively capturing the magenta-haired demon's attention. Dio took one look at the wanderer and dropped the demon in his hand. The stygian's irritated and diabolical expression softened ever so slightly.

"Oh…hi Zero."

The lesser demon, discarded on the ground, scrambled away quickly. Dio shot him a contemptuous look before returning to staring at the wanderer. "You know, I never thought we'd really see each other after…what happened," he stated. "But considering you, I'm guessing this visit is for business, not pleasure. Am I right?"

The wanderer gave him a brief nod. He approached the stygian and removed the folded parchment from his pocket. Zero unfolded the paper and handed it to Dio without a word.

The stygian's magenta eyes widened as he looked over the contract. "I have to say, I'm impressed you managed to get her to sign a contract. Especially since she can't read it… I'm also surprised she agreed to that—she must be pretty desperate—but this doesn't really change anything." Dio handed the document back.

"How so?"

"Who knows what other kinds of things she's hiding? Just because she's willing to get rid of half of the seals doesn't mean that she doesn't have other weapons that could be used against us. I'm not willing to make that chance. I'm an important person; coming back here reminded me of that. Returning home made me realize that leaving this clan alone was freaking stupid, too. I was only gone for a little while, yet more of our territory is being taken by other clans as we speak. Everyone's been slacking off without me here to yell at them!" Dio sighed and rubbed his temples. "I swear, without me this entire clan would just fall the fuck apart."

"Matters at the headquarters are disintegrating as well," the wanderer stated.

"Well, fuck them. That makes me kind of glad I left."

Zero paused. "Concerning your abrupt departure… did you not tell me in the past that I was never to run from my problems?"

"Yeah, I told you that. What about it? Do you need help with something?"

"No. I merely wished to inform you that you are a hypocrite."

"What? Since when?"

"When confronted with the information that Knight Master possesses a large number of demonic seals, you simply became enraged and left," the wanderer stated. "You could have remained and dealt with things, but instead you fled here, where you would no longer have to deal with the problem."

"I left for self-preservation!" he protested.

"Did you? You have always been reckless concerning your own life. You goaded an immortal on a daily basis."

"There was nothing left for me to do there! That was it! I had every right to just leave!" Dio was grasping at straws now. He was clearly flustered and upset…perhaps even a bit desperate.

Zero calmly maintained eye contact with the stygian. "You obviously still harbor resentment over what occurred. I have difficulty believing that there was not something more you could have done or said. You seemed a bit too eager to simply leave."

"But..I…" Dio fell silent. He appeared to have run out of words to elicit. An expression of frustration and irritation quickly appeared on his features. Zero imagined that it was not only the wanderer's words, but the stygian's own doubts as well that plagued Dio.

After a few minutes, the magenta-haired demon turned his back to Zero and stated, "I need time to think about this…" Dio's scythe then appeared in his rake hand. Using his free hand he snapped his fingers and ordered, "Alfred! Escort Zero out." With that, the stygian exited the room, not once looking back.

The senior of the stygian's two butlers suddenly appeared beside the wanderer. He quickly explained that he had been in the corner of the room the entire time. "You still have a chance," Alfred stated before Zero could say a word. "Considering Young Master's expression…you obviously managed to get through to him."

"Yes, perhaps, but have I truly accomplished anything?"

The butler began to leave the room; Zero decided to follow him. When they had begun to walk through the seemingly-endless maze of hallways, Alfred replied, "I believe so. You have caused him to reconsider his decision, despite Young Master's stubbornness. As I see it, we can only wait to see what his decision will be. There is a chance, however slight, that Young Master will simply decide to return, as he has much unfinished business left there. I am curious, though. If he refuses, what will you do?"

"I will not use force. While it is quite likely that I could bring back Dio against his will, I would have the entire Burning Canyon clan after me," the wanderer replied quietly. "If he refuses…I will likely keep returning here until he yields."

"I see. Personally, I do not think he should have left. At least, not at the time he did."

"What do you mean?"

Alfred paused to collect his thoughts. "He left enraged and terribly upset. When he arrived here, he brought those feelings with them and unleashed them on the clan. Besides that, I believe the experience of being in the Grand Chase was beneficial to him… That is merely my opinion, though."

At that moment the two reached a door. The butler stopped and opened the door to reveal the eastern courtyard adjacent to the castle. "This is where you depart. Upon leaving the courtyard you will leave Burning Canyon territory and pass onto neutral ground."

"…Thank you," Zero muttered blankly, beginning to enter the courtyard. After a moment he heard his name called and turned around.

"If this so happens to be the last time we ever see each other," Alfred stated, "I simply wish to thank you."

"For what?" the wanderer inquired in confusion.

"You are very important to Young Master…and you were an excellent influence on him. I am sincerely grateful for that."

Zero had nothing to say. He waited until Alfred disappeared back into the castle before turning around and continuing to exit the clan's territory. The wanderer felt absolutely horrible. It had been his fault for discovering the seals in the first place, and now it was his fault that the stygian would likely never return. He had disappointed his own master, Knight Master, and even himself. He was incredibly disappointed in himself for not being able to succeed in his endeavor to retrieve Dio.

What made the situation even more unpleasant was that Grandark appeared to be greatly enjoying its wielder's misery.

"I told you you'd never be able to get him back," the blade chimed haughtily.

"You were silent whilst I was speaking to Dio," the wanderer remarked in an attempt to change the subject.

The sword laughed. "Of course! I didn't want to interrupt your inevitable failure!"

Zero sighed and continued walking. There was no point in him dwelling on the past. There was still a chance that the stygian would return, and it was still possible for him to retrieve Ley and Rufus.

He had been planning on recovering Dio then Ley, as the stygian would likely be a great asset in retrieving the summoner; however that little plan was no longer possible. "Gran, do you know happen to know where Rufus is?" he inquired tentatively, hoping that the sword would not simply deride him again.

"I'm in a good mood, so I'll take pity on you," the blade stated. "Do you remember when Rufus attempted to take me while you were in the shower?"

"Yes." Zero recalled it quite clearly. He remembered being incredibly grateful that his sword was far too heavy for the bounty hunter to lift. If Rufus had managed to run off with the Grandark…the wanderer would not have known what to do. The thought of having the sword taken from him greatly perturbed Zero.

"And you know that I can track mana signatures, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, when the bounty hunter touched me he left some of his energy on me. Unfortunately, that's not something that can be cleaned off. The good news is that it means I can track Rufus' location at any given moment. There's literally no place in this dimension or any other that he can hide from me now. Heheh."

The sword sounded a bit too pleased with its last statement. "You should learn not to hold such grudges. It is unhealthy," Zero commented.

"I'll stop holding grudges when you stop being stolid."

"Where is Rufus currently?" the wanderer inquired.

The blade paused before answering, "Aernas. More specifically, the Whispering Woods."

As the sword was willing to cooperate this time, the journey back to Aernas was relatively quick. Zero swiftly arrived in Silver Land and began to search the woods for the bounty hunter. He eventually located Rufus amidst the upper branches of a large tree.

Upon noticing Zero, the half-demon fired a round very near the wanderer's neck. When Zero did not react—he had seen that the handgun was pointed a little too far to the left to hit him—the bounty hunter jumped down to the lowest branch and stated, "It seems like you don't grasp the concept of a warning shot. Look, my next target is supposed to show up around here in the next five to ten minutes, so whatever you are going to say, make it quick. There's a big bounty on the line here."

"Do you have any intention of returning to the Chase?"

"Hell no."

"Does this alter your decision at all?" Zero inquired, retrieving the contract from his pocket and handing it to the bounty hunter.

Rufus looked at the page in bewilderment for a moment. "This is one of those contract things, isn't it? I haven't seen one of these in **forever**. I hope I remember how to read these symbols… I was only taught them once as a kid."

After a few moments the bounty hunter's eyes widened slightly and he handed the contract back to Zero. "Well, that's certainly Knight Master's signature at the bottom," Rufus stated after a few moments. "And to be honest, that does make me consider going back. The thing is, it wasn't just that that made me want to leave."

The wanderer thought back to Rufus' last words before leaving the Grand Chase. "Does it concern your half-brother?"

Rufus sighed. "Yes. Everyone expects me to act like him just because we look alike. It's incredibly annoying. Also, when they find out I'm half-demon they get all freaked out like I'm going to try to kill them in their sleep. And I still can't get over the fact that Lass, a thief formerly possessed by Kaze'Aze herself, is totally and completely accepted by everyone else, whereas I'm an outside just because one of my parents was a demon. It's some pretty messed up shit."

"The persecution of demons has occurred for a very long time. All demons are subjected to it. It anything, I imagine you experience less of it, as you are only half-demon."

"Yeah, but it means that demons don't accept me either."

"Humans will not accept you because they fear the demon half of you," Zero stated. "Demons will not accept you because they believe you are too weak to match their power. You could very well appeal to one of these sides and they would likely accept you. Personally I believe it would be easier to simply show other demons you are their equal, but it is ultimately your decision."

Rufus was silent for a while. Finally he admitted, "I guess that's true. Also, getting accepted by demons would certainly distinguish myself from my half-brother… You know…I think I'll come back. Having a proper room and all was kind of nice. I'm guessing you're trying to get back the other demons, too. Which one are you aiming for next?"

"Ley."

"Well, when I'm done with these bounty missions I've taken up, I'll meet you there. Something tells me you'll need the help. I mean, you're not exactly great with social interactions."

"Thank you."

The bounty hunter suddenly whipped his head around and swore under his breath. "Shit, she's getting away," Rufus muttered to himself before promptly dashing away.

While Zero was pleased that he had managed to at least retrieve one of the three demons, he was also reminded of his previous failure. His mission was to bring back all three demons. He wondered if he would ultimately fail his mission. If he did fail…what would happen then?

* * *

Author's Notes:

-Short chapter. xD Sorry, but I wanted to post tonight and I really have to go to bed.

-Alright, no matter how many times I rewrote the Dio and Zero scene in the beginning, it just seemed...off. I dunno. I asked my friend about it and she said it was fine, but I still think there's something off about it. I don't know, maybe it's just because I wrote it.

-Zero's referring to what Dio was talking to him about mainly in my six-chapter story.

-Gran's a jerk again. xD Nothing new there. Also, it's obviously still upset about that little incident from chapter two of one of my previous stories.

-Not sure if Rufus feels that way at all. xD I just made most of that stuff up. As usual. Also, I do know that he's technically full demon and Lass is the half-demon, but I've already established Rufus as the half-demon in my previous stories, so I'm not going to change it now.

-Yes, Dio will appear in this fic again. Soon.

-Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

As Zero walked aimlessly through the Whispering Woods, he noticed that the air around him was becoming colder. Soon he could see his own breath; a few minutes later it began to snow.

"What are we still doing here? It's cold," the sword complained.

"We have a bit of time to spare before Rufus has completed his bounty missions," the wanderer stated. "Is this weather truly that unpleasant for you?"

"I can't even shiver! What do **you** think?"

The wanderer sighed and returned to his home dimension. It was warmer in the other dimension, albeit only slightly. He was a bit saddened that he was forced to leave Aernas in order to avoid the sword's wrath, as he had found the way the snowflakes fell to be quite interesting. "If we are here, we might as well see Master Oz again," Zero reasoned aloud.

"Are you kidding me? It hasn't even been twenty-four hours since I've been forced to be in the presence of that-"

"Would you rather return to the woods?" the wanderer interjected.

The blade grumbled for a while before falling silent.

Zero walked to his master's home and noticed that this time Oz was not waiting for him outside. He entered the house and, after a bit of searching, located the wizard in the library.

"Master Oz…?" he inquired cautiously, not wishing to bother the other demon.

"Hello Zero," the wizard replied, continuing to look down at the weathered spell book he was hunched over. "How is your mission progressing?"

"Rufus has agreed to return; however Dio…" Zero trailed off and began to stare down at the ground.

"Explain. Also, cease looking at the floor. You must always face your failures."

"Yes sir." The wanderer raised his head and stared at the wall as he recounted what had happened between him and the stygian. His master's expression did not change once, and Oz did not speak for several minutes after the wanderer concluded speaking.

Finally the other demon abruptly inquired, "Have you heard about the incident within the Burning Canyon Clan?"

"…No sir." Zero was quite confused as to what his master was referring to and how it related to his failure to retrieve Dio.

"Evidently three of the four generals in that clan were discovered to be traitors by the chieftain. That certainly explains why the Burning Canyons have been so weak lately, does it not?"

"How unfortunate…"

Oz turned a few pages in the book he was reading before stating, "It is not incredibly uncommon. The Burning Canyons are a very ancient and prestigious clan, as well. I have heard that those generals have been replaced and due to that as well as the chieftain's recent belligerent behavior the clan has nearly regained its high status."

"I see. Sir, how is this associated with-"

"Your next target is the Von Crimson River, correct?" the wizard interrupted.

By that point Zero was positive that his master was avoiding the subject the wanderer wished to inquire about. Unfortunately, he would only be reprimanded if he dared not respond to Oz's question and query his own. "Yes, that is correct," he responded.

The other demon reached into the folds of his robe, retrieved a sealed white envelope, and tossed it onto the table near Zero. "Lord Peter von Burning Canyon requested my aid in sealing the powers of a demon relic that has been handed down through his family. This is a letter to him concerning my response and several very important instructions," Oz explicated. "My crest is on the front. Displaying that crest should allow you almost immediate entrance to the Crimson River castle. If you insist that you must deliver the letter personally to Lord Peter, you will also gain almost immediate audience with him, which would be very opportune if you wished to convince him that his daughter should return to the Grand Chase…"

"Ah. Thank you, sir," the wanderer stated, taking the envelope from the table.

"I would accompany you; however my rheumatism has been afflicting me as of late..."

"I understand. I will take my leave now."

Zero turned around and left his master's home. After exiting the residence Grandark asked, "Are you disappointed he didn't give you any advice? I'm pretty sure he's just going senile."

The wanderer remained silent. He did not want to encourage the blade to continue speaking. He began walking towards the east where the Crimson River clan was located. The Crimson River castle was very different from the Burning Canyon castle. The former was surrounded by flat, barren land, and the path leading to the entrance was composed of smooth, uniform stone blocks. The castle itself appeared more modern and well-kept, as well. Guards were visible at the front entrance as well as the castle's many turrets.

He quickly noticed some sort of disturbance near the entrance and began to walk towards the front door. As he quickly walked down the path to the entrance, he heard voices from above. Zero looked up to see an open window. For a moment he could have sworn that he had heard a very familiar laugh…

"Get off of me! I haven't even done anything yet!"

The wanderer turned his attention back to the commotion at the entrance to the castle. He could see Rufus being beset by several of the Crimson River guards. He quickly rushed to the half-demon's side and told the guards, "Please cease. He is an associate of mine."

"And who are you? You're both trespassing on Crimson River territory," one of the guards stated gruffly.

"Who we are is not important," Zero stated. "We are here to deliver a message to your chieftain." The wanderer held out the letter, which was almost immediately snatched away from him by what appeared to be the captain of the guard.

"Fine. We'll deliver this. Now leave," the captain ordered.

The silver-haired demon swiped back the letter. "I was given explicit instructions to deliver this personally. It is a very important message."

Murmuring and whispering broke out within the group of guards. Zero could see that the bounty hunter was slowly inching his fingers towards his Eyeteeth. The wanderer held his ground and maintained steady eye contact with the captain of the guard.

After a few moments the captain turned his head away from Zero and reluctantly stated, "Let them go. I've been told that messages with that crest are always supposed to be let in. Besides, what damage could a half-demon and a clanless vagrant do?"

Rufus scowled but said nothing.

The lesser guards quickly dispersed; eventually only the guard captain remained. "'Follow me and don't touch anything," he instructed, quickly entering the castle. They quickly reached a door that the captain of the guard knocked on twice.

"Sir, there are two demons here with an important message for you."

"…Let them in," a voice ordered from within the room.

The captain turned to Zero and stated, "Lord Crimson River is currently conversing with another Lord. Be respectful or you will both lose your heads. Understand?"

"Yes," the wanderer replied, completely unfazed by the guard's harsh tone. He slowly opened the door in front of him and entered the room; Rufus was just behind him.

The room he had entered was fairly small and occupied mostly by two chairs and a coffee table. In the chair on the right was a middle-aged demon that bore a resemblance to Ley—he assumed this was Peter von Crimson River—and in the other was…Dio.

The stygian met gazes with Zero and raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Zero turned back to Peter, who was watching him with an interested expression. "You must be Oz's creation, yes?" he inquired.

"Yes." The wanderer gave the chieftain a small bow and handed him the envelope in his hands. "It is an honor to be in your presence, sir."

"Haha! I would expect nothing less from one who was raised by Oz. Pardon me for a few moments, Lord Dio." Peter stood and moved to the corner of the room. The Crimson River faced the wall, removed the letter from the envelope, and began to read the message.

Feeling out of place and uncomfortable, Zero walked to stand near the stygian. After a few moments he noticed a hand moving uncomfortably close to his lower back. Before Zero was properly aware of it, Dio had his arm around the wanderer's waist. The silver-haired demon remained perfectly still and silent as to not attract attention to himself. He could not see what the stygian was doing, but he felt the hand dip into his pocket for a moment before quickly withdrawing.

Seconds later Lord Peter returned to his seat and looked straight at the wanderer. "Tell your master that I will have all of the preparations complete by the time he arrives."

"I will. Thank you for your time." Zero bowed to the Crimson River once more before promptly grabbing Rufus by the shoulder and leading the bounty hunter out of the room. As he exited the small room, the wanderer quickly glanced over his shoulder at Dio. He could see a small folded piece of paper in the stygian's hand—the contract that formerly occupied Zero's pocket. Zero hoped that he was correctly assuming Dio was attempting to bring Ley back to the Grand Chase.

Not wanting to interfere with the stygian's plans, he quickly ushered the bounty hunter out of the room. Zero and Rufus somehow managed to find their way out of the castle. The wanderer led the half-demon to a safe area just outside of Crimson River territory.

"Why the hell was Dio there?" the bounty hunter asked.

"I have no idea."

"Why didn't you talk to him about Ley?"

"I believe Dio was doing so already."

"Are you sure?" Rufus asked dubiously.

Zero nodded. He trusted the stygian.

The bounty hunter surveyed their location for a moment before turning back to the wanderer. "So what do we do now?"

"We wait," the wanderer stated, seating himself on the ground. He removed Grandark from his back and began to clean the blade, despite the fact that there was almost no grime on the sword whatsoever. After a few moments Rufus seated himself near Zero and began to stare off into space.

After around fifteen minutes three familiar demons approached them. A quite annoyed-looking Ley was floating beside her butler; Dio was walking behind the other two. The stygian's butlers were nowhere to be seen.

As the three approached Zero began to pick up on their conversation.

"I still can't believe my father would force me to go back," Ley remarked huffily.

"Believe it, bitch," Dio replied nonchalantly. "Thanks to this contract and the fact that he practically treats me like a son-in-law because he still thinks there's a chance we'll get married someday it was easy."

As the other demons approached, Zero and Rufus stood. Dio instantly walked up to the wanderer and handed him back the contract. "Sorry I had to take that from you the way I did, but I didn't want anyone to notice," he stated blithely. "Believe me; I wouldn't try something dirty while that sword was giving me the evil eye."

Zero wondered why Dio seemed so positively cheery. When the wanderer had last seen the stygian…

"I'm going on ahead. You idiots do what you will," Ley announced suddenly before teleporting. Her butler followed a millisecond later.

"Dio…does this mean you have decided to…?" the wanderer inquired apprehensively.

"Yeah, I've thought about it, and I'm coming back. Might as well. I settled all the issues in my clan, and things there should be running a lot more smoothly now that I've fixed that whole traitor problem. Even so I've told Sebastian and Alfred to stay behind for a while and make sure no one starts slacking off again."

The wanderer was terribly confused. He had been almost positive that Dio would never even reconsider returning to the Grand Chase. "What caused you to change your mind?"

The stygian shrugged and looked off into the distance. His previously lighthearted expression was no longer present, instead replaced with one of discomfort and insecurity. "I don't really know. It was a lot of things. The contract, getting everything fixed in my clan, the fact that I have unfinished business in Aernas… Well, and when you talked with me. I'm still not sure exactly why, but that really hit me hard."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not really sure. It's just… I don't know. I've had my advisors yell at me for hours about being a 'selfish hedonist,' but that never bothered me in the slightest. When you started talking with me, though, it just…really got to me. Maybe it was because I already knew everything you told me was true, or maybe it's just because it was you saying it. I guess I also felt a little bad that I was leaving you there with all of those humans. Anyway, the thought of going back just kept nagging me until I decided to give in. Weird, right? I still really don't know what was going on…"

Zero could clearly tell that Dio did not want to elaborate further on the subject. "I see. Thank you for retrieving Ley."

"I was already visiting her father today. It was no big deal." The stygian looked over at Rufus (who up until that point had been observing their conversation with mild confusion and interest on his features) and stated, "You were really useless, though. You just kind of stood there."

"I'm not used to meeting royalty like that!" Rufus proclaimed defensively.

"Well you could have at least pretended like you knew what you were doing."

"Fuck you."

Dio smirked. "Sorry kid, first of all I don't do the whole 'bottom' thing. Second, you're not my type."

The bounty hunter scowled. "Shut up! Why did you have to turn the subject towards sex?"

"'Cause I just had it a few days ago," the stygian stated casually. "But I've gotta say, the standard of guys around here really went down. I mean, I think I went through at least three before I was done, and the second one had the nerve to black out on me."

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Rufus declared, clearly flustered by the current subject of the conversation.

"What? Does this bother you?" the stygian suddenly broke into a leer. "Let me guess, you're a virgin?"

"My virginity has nothing to do with you!"

"Yes it does! If you still have it I'll be able to have the first good laugh in a long-ass time!"

Zero felt the corners of his lips tug upwards slightly into a barely-noticeable smile. Surprisingly enough, he had missed this sort of awkward conversation. Having the stygian back (as well as Rufus and Ley) was a relief to him. The wanderer had fulfilled his mission and would hopefully gain a bit of the Knight Master's trust.

While it was very likely that demons and humans never would be able to understand each other, it was certainly plausible that the gap between the two races could be lessened….with a bit of work.

* * *

Author's Notes:

-Ok, this was rushed because I wanted to get it out tonight. lol. Well, all of my stuff is rushed, so nothing new there.

-Clans have generals now...because...I don't know, I made it up. xD Also apparently a lot of guards... lol?

-Oz has rheumatism...because he's old I guess. xD Also, there is a reason he avoided that little conversation. I just don't know what it is.

-I didn't really describe Peter because I've never really seen what he looks like. As far as I know, a picture of him doesn't yet exist. I don't know what he acts like either...so yeah. Nothing's really known about him other than he's Ley's father. xD GC, go into the demons' back stories moar and I won't have to make up this shit!

-Emotions are complicated. Dio can't really describe what went on in his head because he's confused about it himself. Basically he was just really conflicted and things just ended up the way they did, and he doesn't want to look back on it. That part seems off to me as well. Oh well.

-Of course it was totally necessary Dio ended this story as awkwardly as possible! xD lol not really but it amuses me.

-Rufus was pretty useless in this chapter. Meh. xD

-This ends kind of weird. Well, I'm bad at that sort of thing; you can see that in my other stories, too. Considering I have the same twenty-something readers for all my stuff, they should be used to it by now. Haha.

-Thanks to my readers. If you liked this weird-ass story, review or something I guess. Not sure what my next project is. As usual. xD Man, am I predictable.


End file.
